Brown: The Batman Who Laughs seems inspired by Judge Death

Brown: The Batman Who Laughs seems inspired by Judge Death

The Batman Who Laughs is a mashup of Batman and his chaotic nemesis, the Joker. He is a villain from an alternative timeline where the two characters have merged, and he’s the star of a new, six-issue limited series from DC.

The Batman Who Laughs is a mashup of Batman and his chaotic nemesis, the Joker. He is a villain from an alternative timeline where the two characters have merged, and he’s the star of a new, six-issue limited series from DC.

How did this happen? How did the two sworn enemies become one?

Remember how the creature in the 1979 horror flick Alien had acid for blood, the ultimate defence mechanism? Well, it turns out the Joker has a similar trick up his sleeve.

When someone kills the Joker, doing so activates a toxin in the Joker’s heart that infects the person who killed him. “A toxin that will make whoever kills him the next Joker,” Batman explains to Commissioner Gordon in the first issue of the series.

This makes the Batman Who Laughs an implacable foe, since he combines the traits of both the Dark Knight and the Clown Prince of Crime. “He’s me, free from codes, morals,” Batman surmises.

My wild guess is there is another comic baddie who inspired the creation of the Batman Who Laughs, not a DC or Marvel character, but one from a faraway land. I think the Batman Who Laughs is Judge Death.

If you’ve ever heard of the British comic series 2000 A.D., which featured the adventures of future lawman Judge Dredd, you’ll know about whom I’m talking.

Judge Death comes from the alternative dimension of Deadworld. Like Dredd and Batman, Death is a law enforcer who decrees that all life must be terminated, since only the living commit crimes.

The Batman Who Laughs has inspired much talk on the internet about how he resembles Judge Death, so I’m not the only one who sees the similarities. If you’re looking for inspiration, you could do a lot worse.